I have been to seminars where the participants just follow the "moves" with no real indication of what they are portraying. That, to me, is like watching paint dry.

Being biased, I prefer the Muso Shinden Ryu style I was taught and still practice. We know and follow the bunkai. We react to what our imaginary opponent is doing and follow him with our total attention. If we perform our kata correctly (opinion) not only do we "see" our imaginary opponent, the audience can as well.

It is not just drawing the sword, it is also cutting down our attacker as efficiently as possible.

I was once told that once the draw and immediate cuts where complete, then everything after that was Kendo (or kenjutsu) until the blade was cleaned (shaken or licked off) returned to the saya (scabbard). So if the sword is in its saya you would use Iaido if it is already out you would use kendo (more accurately ken jutsu).

The strong reliance on kata and lack of "sparring" in Iaido is due to the fact that every time the sward is drawn it is treated like a live blade, even if using a broken (wooden) sword. you simply do not use a live blade against someone unless you intend to cut them down, thus solo Kata.

Think of the two ways (iaido/iaijutsu and kendo/kenjutsu) along the lines of hand guns and their use in the old American wild west.

Iaido would be analogous with the quick draw, while kendo would be the good old shoot out (you know the ones in movies where six shooters never needed reloading)

It is also worth noting that kendo is a sport and the martial or combative applicable sister art is kenjutsu. you are more likely to find elements of Iai in kenjutsu then you would kendo, and vise versa.

kendo has kata to by the way and you are going to spend a lot of time doing two man kata in kendo compared to do in "matches" or sparring.

the thing is if you become proficient in Iaido/justsu then you won't need kendo/jutsu

Why not??? After the sword is drawn, the martial artist will still need to fight, and, from what I've been told here, Iaido doesn't do that.

Because Iaido is drawing and cutting, have you actually looked at the Iaido kata, and had it explained to you. they may vary between schools/styles but most that I have seen include multiple cuts to multiple opponents. if you draw and cut down your opponents with Iaido then what is left to use the kendo on.

I get the feeling you are equating Iaido with just taking the sword out of the saya (as asked in the topic), thats kind of thinking that the quick draw gunfighter of the legendary west only ever drew their gun out of the holster and never pulled the trigger.

Kendo requires the sword to be drawn and held in a chosen position, before the cut is made. Iaido starts from the sheathed sword and ends with the return of the sword to its Saya. There are of course many crossovers between them and I like the idea of combining both (though again my preference would steer more towards the jutsu then the do)

Ultimately it is up to you which one you prefer, but make sure you explore the variations more then just watching a youtube video.